damascus allows u.n. inspectors access to the site of an alleged chemical attack the u.s. says it has little doubt the assad government carried it out but russia is warning against forced assumptions. also this week military whistleblower bradley manning requests a presidential pardon after being sentenced to thirty five years in jail for the biggest leak in america's history plus. we were faced effectively with an ultimatum from the british government that if we didn't hand the material or destroy it. to law. the editor of the guardian newspaper reveals how he was pressured to destroy files he received from n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden.

with a look back at the top stories from the last seven days and the latest developments this is the weekly here on r.t. damascus has given us inspectors permission to access the site of an alleged mass chemical attack this as the u.s. says it's almost certain the assad government carried out the assault and pledged a serious response alongside its ally the u.k. middle east correspondent is following the growing tensions. well damascus has agreed to allow u.n. investigators access to the scene of the alleged chemical attack but the point needs to be made that damascus is it will do its maximum to ensure the safe house initially for the investigations the actual territory is held and then so ultimately it will be the rebel forces who determine whether or not the u.n. investigators have the access that they require we're just hearing however from the

united states who says that this now comes too late the hearing from the u.n. that they will regard let's begin their investigation come monday now this comes as the united states says it has very little doubt that damascus was behind this chemical strike the u.s. intelligence basing these claims on the number of reported deaths we're hearing that upwards of one hundred of one hundred people were in fact killed it also is basing these claims on the types of injuries and on eyewitness reports these kind of discussions are emerging from a meeting of the american president barack obama with his security advisers we know that he's been prevented with a review of possible options in terms of american response if indeed there has been the use of chemical weaponry president obama has repeatedly said that if assad uses chemical weapons that would be a green light there would be a red line in terms of which american and foreign intervention would be justified

at the same time the white house is also saying that it believes that damascus did laid axes to these u.n. investigators because it wanted to give the chemical weapons time to degrade now all of this comes as the you in moves its naval forces in the mediterranean closer to the syrian coast and we are hearing from the united states that it would be prepared to strike if indeed called upon to do so this comes as syrian state television is reporting that syrian soldiers entered a number of tunnels in a damascus suburb that had been you. used by rebel fighters and made they found evidence of chemical waste and they were empty shells that had marked on them made in saudi arabia and saudi arabia of course being a very vocal critic of the syrian president bashar assad there seems to be a lot of reports and evidence that the rebels in fact are responsible for carrying out these chemical attacks but let me make the point that all the footage we're

witnessing and all the reports that are circulating online are as of yet i'm verified the rebels for themselves are vowing revenge we have heard from and columnist for a leader in an audience recording that's also been posted online saying that in revenge they will fire a thousand rockets at the assad regime this comes as the united states chief of staff as well as the chiefs of staffs of britain france and several our arab countries sit down in jordan and there they are discussing ways of beefing up security on the borders of countries that surround syria and this is of concern whether or not there is going to be a future chemical attack or any other kind of violence spilling over from syria into neighboring countries. well the russian foreign ministry has called on anyone considering the use of force against syria not to commit what it called a tragic mistake moscow also warned against acting on unconfirmed assumptions before u.n. inspectors complete an investigation it wants more international pressure on the

rebels which russia blames for the attack to help push the investigation along. or despite harsh rhetoric against the syrian government and the u.s. military waiting for a green light to attack it appears the americans don't want an intervention and here's what the latest reuters it soul poll has just revealed just nine percent of the u.s. citizens who took part in the survey want their president to act what about sixty percent said america should stay away from the civil war in syria when else about washington support for the opposition about one tenth said a bomb should do more for the rebels than just send to them one almost ninety percent don't want america to help the opposition but meanwhile medical charity doctors without borders say they have received more than three thousand patients suffering from intoxication on wednesday when the chemical was reported three hundred fifty five of them died but exactly who was behind the attack is still hard to verify so far the u.s. and its allies have assumed

a sat is to blame but geo political analyst patrick henningsen believes it's the opposition that is profiting. of course we look at the history of this particular region the region where the attack said to take place is very active with the front and they've also been implicated in using makeshift chlorine bombs in aleppo back in march so there is a track record there the evidence unfortunately does not stack up with these present claims of the syrian government perpetrating these attacks who benefits from a chemical attack in syria well the opposition benefits it's quite obvious the syrian government does not benefit the opposition benefits because this will be the key to unlock the. airstrikes and bombing campaign over syria. libya this is a little the opposition would like a libyan style coalition with nato in order to force the regime out of power in damascus so they clearly benefit from any reports of

a chemical attack in syria. when international tensions are running high as the pentagon moves naval forces clue. to syria despite a bomb being cautious over an intervention so what are these preparations for attack usually mean well tell us what you think on our web site r.t. dot com that's what you were asking on our online poll a moment and so far the majority almost half of those who responded so far say that washington wants to divert americans from domestic problems around thirty percent think that the pentagon is ready to strike no matter what obama says about being cautious while thirteen percent say that the u.s. wants political leverage over chemical arms and the u.n. investigation and the minority at the moment eleven percent think that the pentagon is readying for an attack just in case will log on to r.t. dot com to cast your vote we could hear from the. right to see. her straight. and i think you're.

going to. whistleblower bradley manning was sentenced to thirty five years in prison this week he was responsible for the massive leak of classified data that exposed american war crimes in iraq and afghanistan the former army private is now hoping for a pardon from the u.s. president when manning addressed a letter to obama insisting he acted out of love for his country seeking to protect the values and ideals of the united states. also said he would gladly pay the price for living in a free american society but as artie's garniture can reports it's the debate over manning's personal issues that is now grabbing the headlines. bradley manning

sentence of thirty five years behind bars has said unimpressive dennet punishment threshold for whistleblowers bradley manning should be walking the streets and being treated for who is a whistleblower who exposed war crimes in iraq afghanistan secret war in yemen and the other corruption of the governments the us supported bradley manning supporters gathered outside the white house to call for the president to pardon the whistleblower the supporters of bradley manning say what's at stake here is not just manage the trip but also the future of journalism and the public's right to be informed on the actions that their government is taking on their behalf manning's defense team has submitted a request for a pardon but there seems to be little chance that it will be granted with the government's ongoing crackdown on whistleblowers under the current administration an unauthorized leak to the media of classified information is viewed as being tantamount to aiding the enemy. the government wide crackdown on whistleblowers and

the extension of this crackdown to journalists threatens to stifle the flow of information that is vital to our public but the media in the us has largely failed to stand up for bradley manning government officials and t.v. pundits all but convicted the whistleblower even before any trial took place who cares whether the army killed some innocent people or not over in iraq really no we don't want to we don't want to be a part of that we it's very uncomfortable so if it's a complex issue and it's uncomfortable americans generally will pull back from it allows the media to fill that gap and portray bradley manning as a traitor manning's own personality has grabbed more headlines than the shoes that he uncovered and the day after sentencing manning's six became the main story who is healthy this week bradley manning announced that he wants to spend the rest of his life as a female and asked to be referred to as chelsea manning one of the defense

psychiatry at trial testified that manning has narcissistic tendencies and i wonder if there's anything to that in the sense that she's announcing this in this very big public way no i think this is really trying to let people have the answer that they wanted she never really wanted this to be public to begin with and when the information came out you need to understand the she gave it to her in a limo in a very private setting in a one on one chat never expecting this to be public now that it is unfortunately you have to deal with it in a public manner chelsea manning's attorney also said his client never wanted personal issues to become the main story and overshadow the debate that the whistleblower wanted to start through the leaks in washington i'm going to. be live here most can still to come it's back to square one dictator hosni mubarak has been let out of jail with many in egypt now questioning whether anything good has come out of the two. thousand and eleven revolution that toppled him in the first place

. the new leak from whistleblower edward snowden today it says that the national security agency has been listening in on the united nations report is in new york and more about this revelation know exactly how was the u.n. targeted them by the n.s.a. quoting to these leaks marina. well america's national security agency allegedly cracked the encryption guarding the united nations internal video conferencing system that's according to german newspaper der spiegel the publication says that the n.s.a. surveillance of the united nations took place last summer and three weeks after hacking into the video system america's spy agency had allegedly boosted its number its number of such decrypted communications from twelve to four hundred and fifty eight now for anyone who doesn't already know this spying on the united nations is

illegal under international law der spiegel also reports that the u.s. maintains a monitoring program called the special collection service in over eighty embassies and consulates around the world often without the knowledge of the host country now many may be wondering why is it that the united states would want to spy on the united nations would spy on its allies because as as we've been reporting and as us president barack obama said himself recently the n.s.a. is in place to protect america's security and target only potential terrorists what we do with it or some mechanisms where we can track a phone number or email address that we know is connected to. now it's unclear how spying on the united nations and international partners coas

coincides with america's war on terror if anything what many critics are saying is that what may come out of the n.s.a.'s worldwide surveillance is a loss in confidence and reliability in the united states because you have to think about it if you have a friend that you think is your friend that you trust to find out is always spying on you is listening to what you're saying is watching what you're doing is reading what you're typing does that relationship still stay strong and not is a question that is clearly coming to light not only following this report but those questions have been coming to light over past months ever since edward snowden blew the whistle on n.s.a. spying programs reena thanks very much indeed for that report i live in new york well the leak that marina has just been talking about is from the german media but britain's guardian newspaper has published many of edward snowden's previous revelations and that led to the government forcing them to destroy secret foils because they fear the data could fall into the wrong hands if the paper was on hacked but the documents would have been stored in there and there were other

copies. you've had your fun now it's time to return in the documents said the unnamed government official today newspaper editor it could be the stuff of movies only it isn't we were faced effectively with an ultimatum from the british government that if we didn't hand back the material or destroy it they would move to law in recent months the guardian newspaper has come to be known as the paper that's been exposing secret material from a trove of information passed on to work by former contractor of the national security agency edward snowden but in recent days the editor of the newspaper is also publicized what had gone on a behind closed doors here how security officials had ended up in the basement of their offices overseeing the destruction of hard drives of computers which contained the very information the paper's been exposing a bizarre turn of events salaries major says that came all the way up from the prime minister's office once it was obvious that they would be going to law. i

would rather destroy the copy than hand it back to them or allow the courts to freeze our reporting and i was happy to destroy it because it was not going to inhibit our reporting we would simply problem erica not from london a twenty first century possibility in a highly digital and connected world the revelation by rusbridger came just a day after the detention of david miranda partner of the guardian journalist glenn greenwald the journalist who had broken the story of snowden's leaks and the same materials around it was detained under the u.k.'s terrorism act and was held in question for nine hours at heathrow airport it caused an outcry among politicians and journalists and even david anderson the independent reviewer of terrorism laws who demanded an explanation prompting the u.k. home office to go on the offensive the government and the police have a duty to protect the public and our national security those who oppose this sort

of action need to think about what's their condoning. if they want to protect the public to tell the public what it is they're protecting them from a generalized statement about terrorism in general doesn't really do the trick you've got to be able to say well the permission he's got would endangered the public for the following reasons you've got to have reasons for it no such reasons have been advanced and rand is new tension as well as the destruction of computers in the basement of one of britain's most respected newspapers in the spotlight the story teller has become this story this is a very damaging moment actually for britain's reputation for free speech being laid bare the way that the british state is very prepared to use terrorism legislation to use accusations of terrorism in order to shut down what looks to be journalistic practice healthy investigative journalism with some of pointed to be noticeably lackluster response from the country's other newspapers following his revelations

especially considering that press appears to be at stake the business of reporting securely and having confidential sources is becoming difficult in these documents there is the stated ambition to scoop up everything and store it all to the internet this is the language that's being used internally to search celia r.t.e. london. you're watching the weekly her naughty life from moscow stay with us because just after the break we head east where experts predict floodwaters will rise for another seven days forcing rescuers into a round the clock fight to paul sandbags into nine me to haul the flood walls that after the break.

the. economic down in the final. deal and the rest until you meet a few believe it briefly. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you know. i'm trying hard luck is a big picture. continues

with a weekly here naughty to russia where extreme flooding continues to devastate the far east experts say that levels have not yet pete and may continue to rise until the second or third of september now that's another whole week. for a region which is already more than seven meters under water now this is where it all began the river burst its banks after weeks of unrelenting downpours covering an area the size of germany and france combined it's been a federal emergency for nearly three weeks now with more to rental rain feeding the rising flood waters and these three regions have been the worst affected up to eighty five thousand livelihoods are under threat in the about offscreen alone three dozen towns of over three thousand habitants are already under water and as you can see here the regional capital of over half a million a city of over half

a million people on the moon now that meets the river and their rescue as volunteers and soldiers are fighting to fortify a river bank over thirty kilometers long for scott brings us the latest now on the efforts. this is marina a resident of culturally risky island and mason is marina's house water waist high the entire ground floor resembling a cesspit rather than a home now it's only when you enter the properties that you see the extent of the damage that these floodwaters have caused now despite knowing as best attempts to try and keep many of her treasured possessions out of the water it was simply in vain the entire house is completely submerged and it's clear looking around that's going to take a lot of time money and effort before this place returns to normal. marina is one of hundreds in this region to have been evacuated in recent days by russia's

emergency services she can't take everything with her and doesn't know when she'll be able to return for now she'll stay with friends or move here they. have been crying all week we've lost all our property and that's after we've renovated hung new wallpaper a place new carpets. although some hardy souls remain predominantly this village is like a ghost town but despite the chaos there are resilient attempts to carry on as normal the shop remains open although when we visited business was slider. many of those evacuated from their homes and up in temporary accommodation centers in schools and sports holes for thirty's and volunteers providing supplies such as food drinking water and medicine that some rest bite for those who have lost everything just get the polish that's good that aid is going to come there is good they do have their

pick you need to stay here they face patel tease greet the treat us like the children all of the situation in the how about oscar region remains critical for the west as hope the worst is over and the region attention is now turning to the cleanup operation just as. the situation is changing and we are going to regroup our forces people now come from the neighboring more region four planes arrive here every day but now water levels in some parts of bass region have already beaten records that have stood for more than one hundred and twenty years not of six hundred and forty two centimeters and the fear is that as the rains continue that could push the eight meter barrier causing even more devastation and destruction to people's lives and homes the military and emergency services continue to work around the clock to reinforce how about ask concern the defenses could be breached by water that at the moment shows no signs of receding i'm with flood levels not expected to ease until mid september the true extent of the damage is yet to reveal

itself and it could be some time yet before the full picture emerges postcards. about oscar. we've got even more stories we will learn in the moment and here's what you can find on t.v. dot com right now racist even a neo nazi tried to turn a small town in the u.s. state of north dakota white supremacist stronghold and out how he's going about it on our web site also. bargaining with bitcoin supporters of the emerging digital currency brought. to a special event in berlin log on to the website and find out what happened all there at. the retrial of egypt's president hosni mubarak has been adjourned until september he appeared in court today facing charges of alleged complicity in the killings of protesters during the uprising which ousted him two years ago the former leader was let out of jail earlier this week and placed under house arrest in

a military hospital where his release is added to tensions in the country with many saying it is part of a reversal of gains won during the two thousand and eleven revolution egypt has been enduring an unprecedented wave of deadly protests since the military ousted islamist president mohamed morsi. muslim brotherhood leaders have been arrested over the same period and their trials will be held in october independent political analyst believes mubarak's release symbolic may not help the military solve some of the nation's most pressing issues. is the release of mubarak intended to reassure the west. i'm not going to be diverting from the mubarak era policies of collaboration with israel or in fact is it is even in terms of the snub to the west because the west has been very unhappy with what's happened recently with morsi or at least in public has been unhappy with it talks about britain and france taking egypt to the u.n.

security council europe and discussing cutting off aid and so on certainly very symbolic. but exactly what the message is trying to send it is not entirely clear i think what needs to be done is to overcome this false division between islam isn't secularism and to look at the real heart of the issue which is the country going to continue on a pro imperialist kind of policy or is it going to do something different and independent and reassert its power as independent regional player. well i'll be back with more of the weekly four in about thirty minutes from now in the meantime katie pilbeam bring suit in this week's top business news that sinan venture capital after the show will bring you all to london was going. along with the.

leg. dramas the chance to be ignored. stories others who refused to notice. faces change the world writes never. sold picture. from around the globe. up to. wealthy british not to. talk to us because we're going. to. market why not.

find out what's really happening to the global economy there's a report on our. ally you want to venture capital i'm katy pilbeam this week greece's state television went back on handguns happens to still be weighed down by its finances plus the money at stake coming to moscow next week will be checking out what can be warring through this guy's in-house investor sean thomas he's voice of the business that's to tell us all about what he's been up to the weekend or last since our last week at c.b.s. early close to that corporate he's been. libya's oil industry the country is a lifeline is in danger of destruction as ports called strikes continue to disrupt the country's exports with an estimated loss of one point six billion dollars the

north says the port has been caused by competition between members of the new day placed petroleum facilities gauls made up of ex militia members fighting amongst themselves the selling of the country's oil for personal gain of a country is reliant on or like sports accounting for ninety five percent of all output the produces shipments have been cut to the lowest level since the civil war twenty eleven with some estimates in just three hundred thousand barrels a day are being shipped out of the country now so for more insight into the libyan oil industry and the economy as a whole i'm joined by stuart and it from platts what challenges face in libya right now both oil industry and there are quite a may to say that libya's oil sector at the moment is in a total state of chaos remember three of the main export terminals.